Rancher's Grill

7597 N. Mesa St.
El Paso, TX
(915) 581-8780

The Rancher's Grill has two locations in El Paso and one in Deming, NM at the former K-Bob's locations. Not
only are they in the same locations, they seem to have the same food. K-Bob's still operates in Texas and New
Mexico, and if you look at the K-Bob's web site the menu items seem to be identical. I think the restaurants
in El Paso, though, have a different owner, and thus the name has been changed.

Rancher's Grill's main accomplishment has been to reinvigorate what had become a tired franchise.
I found the K-Bob's in El Paso to be inferior to the ones in Ruidoso and other cities, and the service had become
even more disappointing than the food. The reinvented Rancher's Grill, though, seems to have brought the
quality back to K-Bob's former level.

The Chicken Fried Chicken, listed as one of "Our Specialties" on the menu, is a good example of
the improved quality. I have
sampled quite a few chicken fried steaks around Austin, where it used to be one of my favorite things to eat.
While I have been disappointed by quite a few attempts of various restaurants to produce a good steak,
the one at Rancher's Grill has the main features nailed down correctly. The gravy is creamy as I used to
find in Austin, and the crust is golden and flaky. The chicken version at Rancher's Grill uses breast meat
that is so thin it is pretty hard to find in the midst of all the breading and gravy, but the meat was never
really the point of this dish anyway--it is supposed to be a poor person's way to eat steak.

Rancher's Grill also offers specials, and I used this opportunity to try the Sirloin Burger with
mushrooms. I think the best comparison to this burger is the steakburger at Great American Land &
Cattle Company. The sirloin patty at Rancher's Grill had more meat, but I thought the one at Great
American had a better flavor, particularly with respect to not being as greasy. The mushrooms at
Rancher's Grill were good, but I enjoyed the green chiles that Great American uses on request a lot
more. The only advantage Rancher's Grill had, and this is an important one, is that it was cooked
properly while the Great American burger was too red for the instructions I gave. In spite of being
undercooked, though, the Great American burger had a better flavor and was not as greasy. I am not
inclined to enjoy the large slabs of meat served at Rancher's Grill as much as what I would consider
normal sized burgers, so this is my own personal prejudice. The Rancher's Grill burger was good,
but I did not think it was great.

I do not know why I got so much meat with the burger and so little with the chicken fried chicken,
so at this point I dod not know if the restaurant generally serves generous portions of food or not. I
think K-Bob's usually served average sized steaks, trying to keep the prices down.

The Cole Slaw that came as a side was excellent--the slaw tasted fresh and the cream was one of
the few I have tried that accented the flavor rather than overwhelmed it.

The French Fries were greasy and not as good as at other restaurants, but I still enjoyed them
enough to eat most of them.

Rancher's Grill has a salad bar that looks exactly the same as the totally uninteresting one I used to frequent
at K-Bob's.

Based on the prices of the steaks I believe they cannot be using a very high grade of meat, thus I
suspect it still relies mostly on the same tenderizer that K-Bob's seemed to use so liberally. I believe
Rancher's Grill is perfectly adequate, though, when you are not looking for a high end steak house. In
any case it is much better than the Golden Corral located a short distance up Mesa Street.

While I was never very impressed with the K-Bob's in El Paso, Rancher's Grill seems to have at least
returned to the quality that was exhibited by its predecesor in the early days when it only operated in Clovis,
NM and a few other outposts. It is still a cheap steak house, but the chicken fried chicken, and I'm pretty sure
a few other items, would be worth trying. The sirloin burger was not my "cup of tea" but I am sure some who
are bigger meat eaters would enjoy it.

Rancher's Grill does not seem to be lacking for business, so this is a sign that a lot of people like it.
As seldom as I want steaks, though, I would be more inclined to pay extra and go to Great American.
I am thinking, though, that I will give the chicken fried chicken at Rancher's Grill another try.